The Northeast Alabama Bicycle Association (NEABA) is honored to announce we will once again host the ONLY qualifier in the USA for the 2018 UCI Gran Fondo World Championship. The Cheaha Challenge Gran Fondo Century distance (100 miles) will serve as the qualifier for all age groups.

We are thrilled the UCI has chosen our ride and look forward to again inviting cyclists from all over the world to visit our little corner of the world on Sunday, May 20, 2018.

What This Means for YOU, our Riders

1. The first three in each age category and the top 25% of each age category of those cyclists who START the ride will be awarded with guaranteed entry to the UCI Gran Fondo World Championship in Italy in the late summer/fall of 2018. Only the century riders are eligible. (Note: If there are three who start in your age group – everybody qualifies! If there are four who start, the top three qualify. If there are 100 who start in your age group, 25 will qualify.)

2. Only the CENTURY riders of the Challenge are eligible to receive this designation.

3. UCI age groups are determined by the cyclist's age on Dec. 31 of the year of the event. (i.e. If you don't turn 50 until August, you would still compete in the 50-54 age group in May.)

4. UCI age groups are:

0-18 (Not an UCI age Group, so ineligible for UCI World Championship. But will receive CCGF award.)

19-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65-70

70+ (According to UCI rules, the 70+ age group must have six or more riders.)

5. Age group winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd/male and female) will receive a UCI medal. Also, 1st Place age group winners (male and female) will receive a UCI jersey.

6. For those Century riders on the equipment listed below, per UCI rules, your time will not be eligible for qualification for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships.

Recumbent Bike

Hand Cycle/Bike

Tandem Bike

Time Trial Bike

Pedal Assist / E-Bikes

Cyclists using these bikes are always welcome to ride the century, or any distance, however, as stated above, you will not be able to qualify for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships.

Important Info about YOUR ride - Don't get DQ'd!

PLEASE READ: Very important info about YOUR start time. Don’t get DQ’d!

Wave Start Info: TBA

NOTE: You MUST start with your age group or be disqualified from qualifying for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championship. The UCI uses gun time for the qualifying results; however, we will have timing mats at the start which would show if you start in the incorrect group. You will be disqualified if you start in the incorrect group.

Erwin Vervecken, our UCI contact, explains the use of Gun Time over Chip Time this way: "The UCI principle of gun time is based on the overall UCI race regulations. I’ll give you an example why this is applied: Can you imagine that rider 1 is starting in the back of the peloton and goes over the start carpet 3 seconds later than a competitor (rider 2) in the same age group. In the end, they both sprint for victory with rider 1 from the back of the peloton winning and rider 2 who started in front arriving in second wheel in wheel with no time difference. With net time, rider 2 would win although he was beaten in the sprint. That’s why gun time is applied in all competitive UCI events, also in the UCI Gran Fondo World Series.